CAIRO: Egyptian stocks fell on Sunday as negative sentiment from plunging Gulf stock markets weighed on Egypt s bourse, hitting stocks popular with small investors and the housing and construction sectors hard, traders said. In the absence of foreign investors during Sunday trading, traders said local retail investors had sold in line with Gulf markets. One trader said the Gulf fondness for housing and construction stocks meant both sectors had taken a beating. Orascom Construction Industries dipped 8.17 pounds ($1.41), or 3.4 percent, to 235 pounds, while Ezz Steel Rebars dipped 2.8 pounds to 77.19 pounds. Alexandria Iron and Steel fell 4.6 percent to 1,258 pounds. Gulf investors are highly interested in the construction and housing sector, so it s very sensitive to their sentiment, trader Mohamed Kotb said. Investment Bank EFG Hermes, a retail favourite and the session s most highly traded stock by turnover, fell 4.47 pounds, or 7.5 percent, to 54.8 pounds. Telecom Egypt is also popular in retail trade, fell 0.73 pounds, or 5 percent, to 13.99 pounds. However, retail darling Arab Cotton Ginning was relatively unchanged, rising 0.2 percent to 13.73 pounds. A trader said the firm s decision to set up a holding company with 1 billion pounds paid-in capital was seen as positive news. Overall, the benchmark Hermes Index fell 1,101.16 points, or 1.9 percent, to 56,104.27 points. The broader CIBC index fell 3.14 points to 229.61 points, and the CASE 30 index dipped 1.8 percent to 6,569.43 points. Reuters
